Extract text from CTY files
To convert your CTY file to another format, you need Railroad Tycoon II or other Game software.
To convert other file formats to the "Configuration / Save File" file type, you need software like Railroad Tycoon II or a similar tool.
The .CTY file extension serves two distinct legacy gaming purposes, creating confusion for users who discover them in old backups or game directories.
Most commonly, a .CTY file is a Commodity Definition File used by Railroad Tycoon II (and occasionally related open-source projects like OpenTTD). These files function as the game's internal DNA for economy management, defining the attributes of cargo types - such as coal, grain, or passengers - including their weight, base price, and transportation requirements.
The Problem: These are proprietary data files, not documents. Users attempting to open them in Microsoft Word or Excel will see garbled text or hexadecimal code. Because they are specific to the PopTop Software engine, no standard "converter" exists to turn them into readable PDF or DOCX formats.
In older contexts, a .CTY file is a city save file from the classic SimCity (specifically the Mac/PC exchange format).
The Friction: These files are 16-bit relics. They cannot be opened by modern versions like SimCity 4 or SimCity (2013). To view the city contained within, you must emulate the original environment using tools like DOSBox.
Convert.Guru analyzes your CTY file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert CTY file to EXE, ISO, BIN, CUE, PAK, WAD, PK3, PK4, BSP, MAP, SAV or DAT, you can use Railroad Tycoon II or similar software from the "Game Commodity Definition" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MOD, BIN, CFG, SCX, DAT, MPQ, LOG, CUE, INI, EXE, SCM or ISO files to CTY, try Railroad Tycoon II or another comparable tool in the "Game Commodity Definition" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our CTY converter.